Manzana Creek in the Santa Barbara backcountry gushes along with resounding crashes of pure water passing over and around boulders and sturdy sycamores. During our extended drought, the Manzana had run dry in most places and June/July overnight camping had become pretty challenging. Today, we can cavort in the pools, filter water for drinking and cooking, and savor riparian ecstasies beside the magic watercourse.

On a visit at the end of May, my colleague and I chose to hike down the lower Manzana Trail from Nira Trailhead to much-used Potrero Canyon Camp.

Deer, coyote and various reptiles abound, and we certainly kept our eyes open for rattlesnakes and black bears. The colorful wildflowers hang on in their chromatic excesses, and while we also were on the lookout for ticks we found there weren’t any.

It’s just two easy miles to the first (major) Potrero Canyon Camp sites — contrary to the old sign stating “one mile” — and we found a happy family overnighting there around a robust morning campfire. We had kept our boots dry to this point, but here we either chose to immerse our footgear (lazy Dan) or take them off and wade across (colleague).

We also encountered a happy young couple returning from Coldwater Camp, which is on the Manzana about three miles from the Nira Trailhead (4.1.1. Directions).

While driving in, we faced seven cars coming out from Davy Brown/Nira and realized, yes, this was the end of the Memorial Day weekend, so families were returning to town. When we arrived at Davy Brown Camp, no one was there at all.

We overnighted at Davy Brown, but hiked out of Nira Trailhead just one more mile down the road (it dead-ends at Nira); there were zero campers at Nira, which also has several excellent car-camping sites. I note that the concessionaire, Parks Management Co., does not bother to collect fees at either Davy Brown or Nira Camp Tuesdays through Thursdays.

While meandering along the green Lower Manzana Creek Trail (30W13), my thoughts turned to concerns about the overwhelming “digital lethargy” and dispiriting ennui rampant today, especially among the young and the screen-addicts in our midst. At times, we learn that interacting with digital platforms makes us mentally and spiritually passive.

Mark Meadows illustrates this as he has been shown glumly glued to his phone in 2021 while the Jan. 6 insurrection boiled over and “Rome burned.” We embrace moments of dissociation and scroll on and on, then end up failing to connect to other humans — and our major response to events is an interior shrug and silly “lol.” After teaching adolescents for 40 years, I’ve become frightened at the deadening impact revealed by widespread digital lethargy (Tung-Hui Hu in 4.1.1.).

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a clarion call on May 23 with his detailed, 19-page warning about the extreme dangers inherent in using social media. Although social media sometimes does offer benefits, there are just too many indicators that it poses a serious risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children, especially adolescents. Edu-tech also rules our schools and has infiltrated school boards and teachers’ minds.

Pushing out into local frontcountry or backcountry trails offers one healthy response to this dismaying obsession with screens and the Internet. In order to avoid the social media dominance that prevents face-to-face communication, try these walking adventures. An added bonus to backcountry hiking is the lack of dependable cellphone service along the Manzana Creek Trail — hallelujah! While I’ve deliberately chosen not to have an iPhone, this lack of service freed my colleague from the necessity to constantly check his messages.

Professor Stacy Torres confirms the accumulating data that reveals strong links between mental distress and excessive use of technology. She writes, “Technology once promised to expand my world, but the more of it I use, the more I feel like a rat in a cage.”

Hiking up or down the Manzana — or Rattlesnake Canyon in Santa Barbara — will set your soul free, ignite the imagination and provide relief from the constant barrage of nonsense emanating from the ubiquitous screens ruling most lives (4.1.1. Torres).

After fording the swollen Manzana at the main Potrero Canyon Camp, we wandered another one-fourth mile and discovered two more campsites with iron grills that I’ve termed “Lower Potrero Canyon Camp.” The second one comes right after passing the (signed) Potrero Canyon Trail, which leads to the top of the sullen Hurricane Deck formation (a severe three-mile ascent). At Lower Potrero Canyon Camp, one finds dense shade from towering sycamores, a sturdy table, a fire ring and available down wood for small campfires.

Continuing down this trail toward Coldwater Camp, hikers will encounter several deeper creek crossings. In the final photograph, you see the red tag indicating “cross here” and you will have wet boots.

Dark green “winter grass” still graces most of the sinuous trail, and we spied several colorful patches of spectacular wildflowers holding on for dear life.

Unlike the past few late springs and early summers, pleasant day hikes and backpacking overnights along the splendid Manzana remain possible all summer! Grab your children and friends and drive the 90 minutes to Davy Brown or Nira. Abandon your devices and screens and simply head out into our glorious heritage of colorful backcountry boasting bounteous water and compelling flora and fauna.

4.1.1.

Directions: Take Highway 101 north to the Chumash Highway (154) and drive to the Armour Ranch Road turnoff at the cement Santa Ynez River bridge. After one mile turn right at Happy Canyon Road and drive to the end for Nira Camp Trailhead (47 miles from Santa Barbara). Click here to check LPNF trail and fire conditions.

Tung-Hui Hu, “Digital Lethargy: Dispatches from an Age of Disconnection” (MIT Press, 2022).

The U.S. surgeon general’s warning included these words: “Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violent and sexual content, to bullying and harassment. And for too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends. We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis – one that we must urgently address.”

Stacy Torres, “Transit, Menus, Events? Smartphones Required. Life Shouldn’t Need Apps,” in Los Angeles Times, May 27, p. A-9.